Spain’s opposition leader faces a familiar parliamentary challenge.
MADRID
Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain’s conservative People’s Party (PP), is preparing for another attempt to become prime minister as the country approaches its November 29 general election. Three years after winning the largest number of parliamentary seats without securing enough support to govern, the former Galician regional president faces renewed questions about coalition-building, political alliances and his ability to translate electoral support into a governing majority.
Born in Ourense in 1961, Feijóo built much of his political career in Galicia, where he served as regional president from 2009 until 2022. During that period, he secured four consecutive absolute parliamentary majorities, establishing his reputation within the PP as an experienced administrator.
His rise to national leadership followed an internal party crisis involving former PP president Pablo Casado and Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso. Feijóo assumed the party leadership in April 2022 and positioned himself as an alternative to Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.
The July 2023 general election gave the PP 137 seats, making it the largest party in Spain’s 350-member Congress of Deputies. However, Feijóo was unable to obtain the parliamentary backing required to form a government.
His unsuccessful investiture vote in September 2023 produced 172 votes in favor, 177 against and one invalid ballot. Sánchez subsequently secured sufficient parliamentary support to continue governing.
That experience remains central to the current campaign. Spain’s parliamentary system requires more than finishing first in an election: the ability to assemble legislative support ultimately determines who can assume the premiership.
The relationship between the PP and the right-wing Vox party is therefore an important consideration.
Although Feijóo has sought to emphasize his party’s political independence, he acknowledged in October that an agreement with Vox could be necessary to replace Sánchez. The PP has previously cooperated with Vox in several regional governments, although arrangements at the national level would involve separate negotiations.
Feijóo’s electoral platform emphasizes institutional reform, taxation, housing affordability, economic competitiveness and stricter immigration controls. On November 10, he presented a program containing 249 measures, including proposals affecting public administration, immigration procedures and access to certain public resources.
The governing Socialists, meanwhile, have defended their record while criticizing the PP’s willingness to cooperate with Vox. Both parties face public scrutiny over housing costs, economic conditions and institutional accountability.
Recent opinion surveys reported by Reuters show the PP ahead of the Socialists, although the estimates vary between polling organizations. Survey findings describe voter preferences at particular moments and do not establish the eventual distribution of parliamentary seats.
For Feijóo, the approaching election also represents a continuation of his transition from regional leadership to national politics. His experience governing Galicia remains a prominent part of his political identity, but the fragmented composition of Spain’s national parliament creates different negotiating requirements.
The November 29 vote will determine the next Congress, after which the formation of a government will depend on the parliamentary support available to competing candidates.
Feijóo’s second attempt at La Moncloa thus brings Spain back to a fundamental distinction in parliamentary democracy: electoral performance and the ability to govern are related, but they are not the same.
Beyond the Headlines, Accountability Matters.